Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Obama to Dine with First Black Miss Israel

An advance party of White House officials insisted on inviting Yityish Aynaw, 22, to next Thursday's gala dinner hosted by Shimon Peres, Israel's president, after hearing how she became the first Israeli of Ethiopian origin to win the country's premier beauty queen contest last month, reports the UK's Telegraph.

Her presence among 120 guests who will also include Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, Lt General Benny Gantz, the army chief of staff, and Rueven Rivlin, the Knesset speaker puts her ahead of many more august figures who have failed amid a desperate clamour to secure invites.

The mass circulation Yedioth Ahronot newspaper reported that Aynaw – who emigrated to Israel from Ethiopia with her Jewish grandparents after the death of her mother when she was 12 – would have the chance to exchange pleasantries with the president.
She told the newspaper that Obama's status as America's first black president had inspired her to make him the subject of her high school graduation essay.